Medrol Pack - How long until it works if your pain is inflammatory

[JanW]

My doc started me on the standard medrol pack to attempt to see whether or not my ongoing ankle pain is due to any inflammation (PT has been getting it better, but really slowly, and we both decided to at least try a limited course of pred to see if I notice a difference). Of course, he told me that if I felt significantly better by tomorrow, we would know it was working, but how common is it to notice a difference in 24, 36 or 48 hours of the first dosage? I've never been on this for anything except my (misdiagnosed) asthma, so I don't have a clue. He did say that if I'm not at all different by the end of the pack, we need to remain with the 'mechanical problem' theory.

All of my inflammatory markers are now normal (yeah!).

[pberggren1]

I'm not sure what a medrol pack is? Is it like Solumedrol or Pred?

[JanW]

sorry -- oral steroid -- methylprednisolone. It's a step down pack with the most on the first day, and reduce each subsequent day for six days. It's 21 tablets total, 4 mg each.

[elephant]

Been on those Medrol packs many times before diagnosis. I noticed within 24 hours, but everyone is different. Is there damage done to the ankle JanW? When was your last x-ray of your ankle?

[JanW]

I don't think there was any damage to the ankle. Dx on both MRI and ct scan was unexplained bone edema, which certainly sounds inflammatory to me. On the other hand, as my podiatrist points out, it can also happen with injury. It is possible that from my foot pain I managed to injure my ankle with my gait.

[elephant]

Keep us updated on the Medrol pack. Hope it improves! That would be great!